We're Following
by TheSilentTrowaBarton
Summary: oneshot Seaquel to ‘By The Way’. Mai and Zuko travel through the Freedom Fighter’s forest as they attempt to find Azula. Zuko finds out that Azula’s companions are a little smarter then he took them for, and that maybe one of them has more tricks up her s


We're Following

A/N: so remember 'By The Way'? Ok, this is the random insert that I promised. Just the Mai and Zuko part. **Do not read this first if you plan on reading "By The Way". **Ok, seems fair. Oh 'We're Following' is from "we're following the leader, his name is peter pan." I think it's that much. It just has to do with the JetPeter pan thing. bows to Jet fans sorry, I know that most are offended by that connection. No Flames. Mai's a little OOC. (Not super happy or anything, she just seems a little more… spoken I guess. Then again, she is around Zuko.)

Dis: Don't own avatar. --

Zuko's fingers clawed urgently at the rock when he finally caught a hold of it. He hoisted himself out of the river and glanced around to see Mai struggling to pull herself up. He rolled his eyes bounding over to the slab, and pulled her out of the water. When he finally got her to stand on her own, she had begun coughing. Her grip on his shoulders was a tight one, resting her head on his chest for comfort. She didn't seem to be concerned with his take on the matter.

"Choke much?" He pestered the girl in semi-shock. They made their way to the shore and out of the river's wrath. She quickly collapsed on the dirty forest floors riverside and began deeply breathing in order to calm her nerves. He watched her for a moment then gave into sympathy. "Are you ok?" he asked in monotone.

Her hands shook as she nodded and clutched her own stomach "I'll be fine. I just landed on my stomach."

"…You didn't hit a rock did you?" His voice held a little bit of concern, pondering broken ribs.

"I'm not stupid." She sat up clutching her head to regain balance in her attempt not to fall over."What happened?" He stepped forward.

She winced for a moment, cursing herself for showing weakness. "I told you, I hit stomach first."

"So?"

"…Have you ever hit the water with only your guts taking the first of the impact?" She huffed at him. "I'm going to be bruised for weeks."

He was silent for a moment, then after glancing around he walked over to her and offered his hand. "Come on."

She shook her head. "I'll stay here." Her hands lay across her abdomen defensively.

He thrust his hand in front of her and frowned, "That's an order."

She finally complied with his orders while clutching her stomach with her free hand as he practically ripped her arm off hauling her up. "I'm not a rag doll." She muttered.

"I figured you'd be heavier." He shrugged.

"Do I look heavy?" She held back the urge to smack him.

"I was always helping Uncle up, you can't blame me for over guessing weight."

She nodded finally giving him the benefit of the doubt. "Hey, what are you doing?" She jumped a bit when his arm encircled her waist. She didn't shout, but all the same she was a little surprised.

"I'm helping you, you said your stomach hurt right?" She nodded at the question. "Ok then, just rest most of your weight on me and we'll get you fixed up."

"Fine." She wrapped her other arm around his shoulders and relaxed. A smirk spread across her face. Her injury seemed to be already paying her back.

The two walked into one of the old Fire Nation camps, "The kid's have pretty much cleaned everything out." Zuko stated inspecting crates and baskets. Suddenly he scurried into the bottom of one of the boxes, "But it looks like they're using it as storage…" Mai sat silently, watching him pace between boxes and tents. He was amusing, like a tiny bird hopping around. "Look what I found." He walked up to her, dropping a black sack on the ground in front of her, "…well?"

Mai looked at it, then back up at him, "What is it?"

He rolled his eyes, "Open it."

"I'm so excited." She said rolling her eyes. She leaned over slowly wincing as she did so. She pulled the top open and became amused. "Hey."

"Hey." He nodded.

She looked up to him and gave a respectful nod, "Thank you." Her knives had been tucked away in this camp. How lucky.

"My swords are here too." He sat them next to her and laid some bandages on them, "While I search through everything else, you can patch yourself up. At least this should help reduce some of the pain."

"Sure." She nodded thankfully as he walked back into one of the tents and began shuffling around again. She pulled up her top enough to reveal her stomach and give her sight of where to wrap. To her dismay, her stomach was already turning a purplish tint. She frowned at it and let out a deep sigh. "Oh well." She quickly wrapped herself making sure that the bandages were stiff. "So what are we going to do?"

Zuko stepped back out shaking his head as she pulled her shirt back down. She could have done that before she made the hint for him to come back out. "I guess we should go find Azula. The kids were saying that Jet took her to the outskirts of that abandon city. We'll check there."

"Ok."

"After that, we'll go back to the camp, plan an all out take over after getting your other friend."

"Ty Lee." Mai quickly added.

"Right. Then we'll get the hell out of here as fast as we can. I'm sick of dealing with their little group." Zuko gritted his teeth.

"He is rather cocky." Mai sighed, feeling no need to really get into Zuko's confrontation with Jet. "And it's sort of like having a thousand snake-rats nip at your heels… not pleasant."

He looked over at her, "You going to be ready anytime soon?"

Mai rubbed her stomach, "Just give me a few." In all honesty, the wrapping had done loads to take off the pain. Sometimes a bit of pressure was all it took to improve a person's state of being. She would just rather have a few seconds to dry off, but there really wasn't time for that. "…let's go." He stood up and she did the same. She staggered to her feet and adjusted to the pain quickly.

He picked up her bags of knives and handed them to her, "Here, as much as it suck's, you're going to need to pack these."

Mai nodded, shoving everything into their places quickly and without thought. "ok." She nodded.

He arched an eyebrow at the quick performance and shrugged, "Alright."

She stepped forward, staggering for a moment. She would have to take her time at first. "So, you think Azula's falling for this guy?"

Zuko shrugged, "Maybe."

Mai glanced around the forest for a moment then back at him, "It'd be really boring to live out here."

"I suppose." He mumbled. "I don't really get into my sister and guys. She's too complex as it is."

She stopped for a moment. A shock wave of pain had gone through her spine.

"You ok?" He looked back at her. She shook her head 'no' and he walked back to her side. He waited with her for a moment hoping that would comfort her a little. "What's the plan..?"

"Just hang on." She clutched to his shoulder, feeling her stomach knot as a sick pain rushed through her. She wobbled a bit and then her knees gave out. Before she even could react, he caught her in his arms. He moved her back to her feet to help her up, but she clung to him instead of immediately standing. This helpless thing was starting to get nice. She felt herself shaking after the pain seemed to pass and finally moved to support herself. "Ok." She stood upright again; embarrassed by the fact he had stood holding her like a week child for about a minute without protest. She dusted herself off in order to make the entire event seem like nothing. "Thanks."

"It's alright."

For a moment she stared blankly at him tilting her head to the side to examine his new features. This really was the first time since the Agni Kai that she had gotten to see his face up close. After amusing herself with the sight of his new hair cut she thoughtlessly raised a hand up to move his bangs out of the way of his scar. He hand quickly shot up and grabbed her wrist. She curled her fingers in and rested her arm. Finally he let her go. She smirked; it was amusing to stand there with the _intention_ of rescuing Azula. Instead she was lost in her own little world were she and Zuko seemed to be having a battle of tolerance for one another's actions. Finally he reached up and tugged at one of her ponytails to break the nothingness.

"Ow!" She frowned suddenly, "What was that for?!" She became quickly bitter.

He smirked, "You were getting annoying."

She allowed herself to smile at that one.

"What?" He looked at her suspiciously.

She crossed her arms for a moment, keeping her ever-devious smile on her face and tapped her chin. "I'm thinking."

He cocked his head, "And?"

She looked at the water, "You know, we don't have to save Azula. We can go get your Uncle if you'd like and just take off."

"You're crazy." He muttered shaking his head. He patted her on the cheek and smiled, "You're Fire Nation though, so I suppose it's excusable." He was using his 'captain of my own damn ship' voice.

She reluctantly removed his hand from her cheek, "Yes, I would suppose." She sighed while keeping on of her hands across her abdomen and walked past him. "Since you aren't in the mood to run off, let's go get Azula before that boy slits her throat. His pride seems more important to him then love."

"What?" Zuko questioned, walking beside her.

"Azula's in love with this boy. I doubt she's going to run from him. I know for a fact that he won't spare her though." Mai pondered the situation, "We're going to have to kill him."

"Finally." Zuko huffed.

"…" Mai looked directly at him, "Do you mind my asking?"

Zuko nodded, "He followed Uncle and I around Ba Sing Se and caused us all sorts of hell after I wouldn't join his gang. He figured out that we were Fire Nation and suddenly went berserk on us."

"Something to do with his past?" Mai slipped her hands into her sleeves. Distraction was doing away with the pain.

"I guess it would have to be." Zuko raised his chin, "But that's no reason for him to blame soldiers mistakes on an entire country."

"You'll make a fine leader." Mai sighed without giving thought to her words.

His head quickly jerked in her direction, "What about Azula…?"

Mai sighed, "In some ways yes." She hummed to herself, "Though I am persuaded otherwise." She looked at him and nodded, "I feel it's better to have a united country, and worry about war after we are structured ourselves. I'm not looking to live in the utter chaos that your father, grandfather, and great grandfather began. I want a nation that's one hundred percent perfection and two hundred percent greatness. After that, then we can do what we please with the rest of the world."

Zuko smiled at her. "You never seemed one for concerns with the Fire Nation's politics."

"There's much about our nation that I truly hold dear. I just never voice anything of the sort. Azula would have my head for something like that." Mai shook her head, "As much as she wouldn't like to admit it, you cannot rely on the inexperienced. The ways of a Fire Lady should be knifelike… intelligent, pointed, and deadly. Your father took your mothers ideals for granted, she was genius the few times I spoke to her."

"There's no need to waste lives." Zuko sighed. "My mother never was allowed much of a say in anything."

"Then if you become Fire Lord, make sure that changes if you feel strongly." Mai looked into the river, seeing something gleam, "Hold that thought." She stepped over to the shore and knelt down to pick up whatever it was that had lain there. "…We'll get back to the conversation later."

"What is it?" Zuko stood next to his new ally. A red four nations tile was in her hands. There was something etched into the tile, though he could not understand the concept.

"Ty Lee's ready for our coup. We have to get Azula at this point. Apparently _our_ little escape plan was the only way out."

"That's not good."

Mai smiled at him, "We could still run off and look for your Uncle if you like."

Zuko smirked at her. "I'd rather take my chances with you." He looked down the path to see the trees had begun to stagger over the land and turn into a field. "Azula's going to be right out here." The field only lasted about a forth of a mile, and dropped into a gorge.

Mai stepped back from the river and handed him the tile, "Take this, alright?"

Zuko looked at the old tile in his hands and then back to her, "Explain?"

"It's just something that Azula, Ty Lee, and I have passed around since we were little. Azula made it a spoken and known rule that we were never to give this to you."

"…is this just some girl thing?" Zuko asked while thinking back and forth between her and the mission.

"It's a statement of loyalty." Mai bowed to him. "Azula asked me to pick her over you and I don't think that it's fair for her to chose my fate… So I'm giving you a hand in it too."

Zuko looked at the tile for a moment before tucking it away in his pocket. "Alright." He looked back down the path and at her again. "We should go."

Mai nodded firmly and proudly. He had accepted her apologies, "Yes."

As they strode down the path they glanced through the trees looking for signs of Azula or the loud-mouthed leader. Mai leapt into a tree and scanned the area, only to find that the hill went up a slope.

"We'll have to climb it." She sighed after stepping from her place to stand next to him.

"That's fine."

The two took off running toward the top of the canyon that had been formed by the dam that once existed there.

"I'll go in and stop him from killing Azula with his blow. He won't be expecting to see me coming for her."

"Catching him off guard then?" Zuko asked realizing that keeping pace with her was slightly more difficult when she ran. He had always walked faster then her it seemed. Yet when it came to running, she could blow him out of the water.

"Yes, get behind him and prepare to attack before he even sees me. Does that sound alright?" She looked back to see him dropping back.

"That's fine." Her lenience gave him the chance to keep up.

The two rushed ahead sprinting up the hill toward Azula and Jet's spot, or so they hoped. Mai suddenly felt herself jerk to a halt. She quickly looked back at Zuko.

"What's wro-" She couldn't finish or react before he had swept her up into his arms and kissed her without giving her a chance to say otherwise. Her pale cheeks flushed a deep red while her flustered mind attempted to figure out what was going on. Within seconds her eyes fluttered shut and she wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him back without hesitation. She would possibly never have this chance again. However, if the opportunity did come up, she could be sure that Azula or Ty Lee would be there to ruin it. She brushed the thoughts of the two out of her mind and smiled under his kiss as his fingers rested on her spine. She eased up and allowed her hands to rest on his shoulders making him to lean down some to meet her height. He pulled her closer against him and she finally pulled back and attempted to breathe for a moment. She frowned at him.

"You could have asked."

Zuko looked her firmly in the eye, "I'm the prince, I don't ask."

Mai pushed some of his hair back with a bit of fire in her eyes, "And I'm a proper noble lady who's in quite a predicament."

Zuko flashed her a grin, but it suddenly faded, "You hear that?"

Mai rolled her eyes and nodded, knowing that the voices that they were hearing, we none other then her friend and her captor. "Unfortunately."

Zuko released her from his grip and hesitantly stepped back from her. Mai nodded and took off in a sprint, while Zuko headed back into the trees to stay out of Jet's sight. Mai quickly grabbed a dagger from her coat and pulled it into her hand holding the grip tightly. As soon as Jet was in view she saw the dagger that he held about to come down upon Azula. Mai jumped forward hoping… hoping… hoping that she would feel them clash… something to let her know that Azula was fine. Mai's arm jerked some, and when she opened her eyes she was pleased to see Jet standing before her with a frown. Mai felt her still wet robes pull down on her, but then again she could feel the weight of all of her knives too.

"Hey." She stated.

(a/n: this is the part at the end of the chapter. This is just some more that I had in mind.)

Mai was leaned over him with a soft smile, "Too bad she let him go." She whispered. Ty Lee and Azula were too close for comfort and Mai was sure that any shows of affection toward Zuko would be taken as a threat to Azula if overly sought after.

Zuko moved his hand from his forehead, looking up at her, "It's fine I guess. He'll be after her now, not me."

"You just don't want to have to do anything." Mai mocked.

"Exactly." Zuko hummed seeming to fade off to sleep under the starry sky.

"I like it. Sit around and do nothing while Azula does the fighting for us."

"Mmhmm." He managed.

Mai sat her head on his chest, knowing the grass was tall enough to block Ty Lee and Azula's glances. "Guys, are we just sleeping out here?" Mai quietly asked.

"No." Azula responded, "I'll sound the call."

Mai closed her eyes and relaxed as Azula stood up and began to swing some sort of device through the air. It made some sort of howling noise that echoed for miles. "It sounds nice." Mai whispered. "It's sort of like a dying wolfs cry."

"I guess." Zuko moved his hands from over his eyes and smiled, "No moon out."

Mai looked up at the sky before looking back down at him and planting a kiss on his forehead, "You're right."

A/N: FINALLY DONE:rolls around: I'm turning these out like nuts! It's CRAZY! Editing like 2 stories a night and starting a new one every 2 days. It seems impossible, especially when some of them are made to go together, and I can only post once I've got all the connectors done. off to bed. :collapses: And for the complainers, Mai has magic bandages. That's how she got better so fast. If you have a problem with that …go jump in a river. :Smiles maniacally:


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